By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Today it’s time for political thoughts on three levels.

National thoughts

For someone to write about the national scene these days, well…..it’s frustrating.

Time you jell your thoughts, here our President comes with an even more bizarre development, or he tweets on an entirely new subject, or he confuses you further by contradicting what he said the day before. And all along, the wheels of government barely move, with most attention on first one Russian government story after another. And the sad part is that it is the President who keeps the Russian story going with yet another comment.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have to do little, since the Republicans can’t seem to get a plan with a chance of passing. So the Democrats stay on the sidelines, happily content to see the pressure on the GOP.

Yes, we know that the times are always changing, but the political clime seems to reverberate much faster than it did just a few years back. You yearn for the “quiet” days of the Bush, Clinton and Obama.

Meanwhile, Pentagon continues to come up with new developments and troop deploys to Afghanistan, that rat hole which is eating up more and more American dollars, while putting more of our young people in harm’s way. Won’t we ever realize we can’t finalize this war? The Russians are way ahead of us on this front, having dusted their hands of Afghanistan years ago. And they are located right next door, not around the world!

Georgia thoughts

Since July 1, a new Georgia law, coming from our Legislature, and signed by the governor, allows concealed weapons on Georgia college campuses. So far there have been no incidents from the “campus carry law,” though college officials have adopted all sorts of comments on implementing this new law.

The new measure has some twisting developments. Those with a campus-carry license can go without question all across the campus, including buildings, classrooms, student center and administrative areas.

But these same people, can’t take concealed weapons to sporting events, residence halls or facilities where there are visiting high school students. It begs the question that if a campus student has a permit, what does he do with the weapon when he goes to a dorm? The law prohibits it from being in a locker on campus. Does he hide it somewhere, or lock it in a car? That’s mystifying.

And another strange aspect: while students may have a campus carry permit….faculty can’t.

Those of us who were opposed to the campus carry bill are still scratching heads to figure out how this will benefit our state. And the big question: does all this make our college campuses safer?

Gwinnett scene

Local Democrats are grinning these days about the interest potential candidates have shown for the 2018 primary season. More Democrats are coming to candidate training sessions than ever before. And, we hear from those close to the party, that the caliber of these people is of high quality.

Combined with the relatively strong showing that Gwinnett Democrats made in the 2016 election, it may bode for a stronger Democratic Party than in recent years. We anticipate that Democrats could surprise some Republican candidates and may win one or two more races in Gwinnett in 2018.

Yet it won’t be a wholesale turnover, we suspect. Gwinnett Republicans pulled a zinger in 1984, when 17 out of 18 Democrats lost in the General Election. The only Democrat who won didn’t have any opposition.

OOPS DEPT. A few eagle-eyed readers recognized that the City of Auburn is located on U.S. Highway 29, not Highway 129. It was our fault. Our apology….and hope no one tried to get to Auburn on U.S. Highway 129.

GwinnettForum.com is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA. We encourage your opinions. Send Feedback to: elliott@brack.net.

GwinnettForum | Dec. 12, 2017

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